


Derek Hale -A Better Alpha Than You Though-

by OneStoryToMany



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Also..., Bad Spelling & Grammar, Cause....Reasons., Character Study, Gen, Pack Dynamics, Parentheses abuse, Scott Bashing, Slef Righteous Ranting, Some bashing of other Characters as well. Apparently I'm a judgy guy., Sorry!, Though I don't hate him, Tired of all th unwarranted (canon) Alpha Derek hate, he was a shit person., just in regards to Derek....., yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9792950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneStoryToMany/pseuds/OneStoryToMany
Summary: This is not a fanfic nor is it written in fanfic format. (Turns out I'm a half decent writer without the ability to finish an actual story....because reasons.)This space is reserved to speak about Derek Hale and how well he did as Alpha during Seasons 2 and 3. And to show that he was a little bit better at it than people give him credit for. Also, this will not be ignoring his failings, but for the most part this is an ode to my favorite (Teen Wolf) thing ever.3 parts, each chapter highlighting a different season, with the 3rd (Maybe the first one actually, because that one just jumped all over the place :p) being a more generalized summary.(Season 1 and 2 kinda got smashed together because I can't stick to the point :p lmao)(This is including Season 1, even though he wasn't officially an Alpha at the time, he was acting in the place of one.)This was a long summary for no reason O_oAlso, rated Teen and Up because I am an incapable of (not) cussing though I will try to keep that in check. (Not beta read)Typed up immediately after reading yet another story that shits all over the time during Derek's reign as Alpha.





	

**Author's Note:**

> On a side note. This isn't necessarily meant to be taken wholly seriously. I did this cause I was annoyed by the cop outs taken by the show, and the lack of understanding by the fans, but please feel free to both disagree and bitch me out for it!

Dunt dunt DUUUUUUUN! Season 1! So season 1 opens to Stiles and Scott looking for Laura's body, Scott getting bitten, then tryouts and other teen drama and high school....blah blah blah you get the picture. Now let's stop paying attention to the children and discuss Derek (as delicious a discussion there ever was.) We'll start with personal head canon (because frankly this tiny smidgen of evidence is both biased positively and could frankly be untrue. But might be. The world may never know.......OK more likely than not I'm wrong...but whatever I Do Not Care!!!!!)

During Derek, Scott, and Stiles' first meeting Derek begins the conversation by saying "This is private property." My personal head canon is that Derek already knew or suspected that Scott was a werewolf. Canonically speaking season 2 proves that a werewolf can tell a day after the bite that someone is a werewolf(Though time frame isn't perfectly clear on this one as it is possible that Erica was bitten days before this scene but it is presented as if it was the following day.). (Scott telling Stiles that Erica was bitten during the awkward as hell over-sexualized re-introduction of Erica's character.) So a born werewolf, like Derek, shouldn't have problems with recognizing one. Now this is where it gets tricky, how good is werewolf hearing? Without focusing I mean. Since this actually is not told (because who other than super fans would care about such a small detail) it can then be theorized that Derek did NOT over hear their conversation, or did and chose not to comment on it due to Stiles presence. What I mean is this, since I'm kind of getting side tracked here, what reason did Derek have to confront them? Sure it could have been written in just to introduce his character as a mysterious person that would become important or whatever, BUT Derek isn't really the kind of person to go out of his way to do something unless he felt he had to (or so I think.) So that led to this reasoning, Derek thought another werewolf was intruding on Hale territory. However due to being raised, and given good reason, not to out the secret to randoms he had to A) Scare the boys away and get the intruder off his territory. And B) Do so without revealing the secret to the unknown human (Stiles.) This (if true) shows a decent head for quick thinking and impulsive behavior. Add into the fact that his sister just died and he found two asshole teenagers standing where he found her body (and if he overheard their conversation, discussing looking for it for fun and games) his brusque attitude can actually be considered both reasonable and acceptable given the givens. But this is all conjecture, moving on.

Season 1 shows Derek to be a morally ambiguous (though the next couple seasons just reinforce this) pseudo leader. A lot of people actually try to paint Derek as this extremely assholish individual during season 1 but let's look at the facts. When Derek had confirmation that Scott was a werewolf he approached Scott, several times, to have a good relationship with him. Scott is the one who was a dick and kept rebuffing him. So Derek giving up on Scott for the time being had to change tactics. He then successfully manipulated Scott (and through him, all of Scott's allies) into assisting him in taking out the rogue alpha (Peter, his uncle) Throughout Season 1 you see Scott gladly accepting the things the bite gives him, but ignoring the fact that he only got those things through the bite. (The Allison thing is a little hard to say, however high school hierarchy as presented by Teen Wolf would have meant meet cute or not, there would have been no real reason for Allison to show interest especially considering her attraction was initially raised because of athletics Scott was not naturally gifted with.) But I digress, after manipulating Scott, he does his best to keep Scott's ass out of the fire as much as possible, even allowing himself to be captured. 

My next point! So Derek allows himself to be captured to save Scott. The important thing about this is the fact that he wasn't martyring himself in the sense that he thought he was going to be killed. His previous relationship with Kate Argent gave him enough knowledge on her to know that she was more sadistic than to kill him outright. He obviously planned along those lines and stole Scott's phone during that whole mess with the assumption that eventually someone would look for him (Stiles. Because Danny and Miguel :p lmao) 

Now let's look at some "failings" of Derek's. 

First, Derek's lack of trust. Well come on people. He just met these kids, and the one he interacted with the most (Scott) was an ungrateful, selfish, back stabbing asshole. (More on Scott's failings in a futer character study thingy.) And Stiles? Openly threatened him, pimped him out, and so on and so forth. They ACTIVELY gave him reasons not to trust them. And that's not even including the times they had him arrested for Laura's death, or the school shit, when he was mauled and almost died because of the absolutely shit plan they had to get the Alpha's attention. His inability to trust? FALSE! (in my opinion) People like to point out the pool scene as proof for this, but Stiles' actions during Season 1 and up to that point were not just counter to Derek's but again he actively gave Derek a reason not to trust him. Scott? same deal. Deaton? Same deal. Peter? Same deal. Derek gave every single character a chance, before he never trusted them again (possible exception being Stiles. Cause I don't think he'd ever forgive Scott for the whole faking being pack/family and then forcing him to bite Gerard when him being AWARE of the plan would have not interfered in it but probably also helped (cause dude? If he'd known that Gerard was more likely to die because of the bite due to being poisoned, he would have actively forced the bite on the man. BEFORE HE HAD A KANIMA ON HIS LEASH) 

The Deaton thing. (When Derek attacks Deaton in Season 1 thinknig he is the Alpha) Derek was following leads regarding his sister's murder. Which was ruled an animal death, if he fought the system to argue that it was murder, then because of Scott and Stiles he'd be suspect numero uno. So he had absolutely no choice but to investigate on his own. Especially since he couldn't trust the other two. So he ends up finding Dr. Deaton, who actively lies to a person he knows can tell he's lying and then refuses to say anything else. And later claims "I will watch out for you because of your mom" but only ever helps Scott, including the time where Scott totally non-con forced Derek to bite Gerard. Whatever. Guy claims to be neutral but obviously picks sides and actively betrays his old pack? Fuck the man. So yeah, I can understand thinking he might actually be the Alpha. Derek might have been jumping to conclusions, but seriously Derek is proven to be a quick thinker and impulsive, this is as much curse as blessing. He didn't go to Deaton assuming he was an enemy, Deaton acted suspicious, withheld information on Derek's sister's murder, and knew more about the situation than he should have. Hell if Deaton had told the truth then the whole thing would have been avoided. So the conclusion Deaton= Alpha wasn't to big a deal, especially considering at NO point did Derek have any other leads or good targets. The closest alternative (Peter) was catatonic (supposedly) and FAMILY. Of course he wouldn't assume that his uncle was the Alpha? Like the fuck? Why did the writers have Laura be murdered by her Uncle? Like seriously the little bit of pack dynamics shown by the show, give me an idea that werewolves were a lot closer to wolves in captivity plus high school drama and murder. But that's MTV for you. 

The Kanima.....and his plan to kill it. So, that's another one where people unfairly judge Derek. Let's again look at some facts, 

(Actually going to do a list this time.)..

A) Derek had two possible suspects for being the Kanima. He came up with a really well thought out plan, due to previously attending the school (assuming he had Harris for a teacher) he would have been aware of the experiment and the opportunity it presented to give Lydia the poison when she'd be both unaware of it and the existence of werewolves in general. While there is one giant flaw in this being that Banshees are apparently immune to kanima poison (this might have to do with the fact they are technically part spirit or fae depending on your lore) the fact that she is part human should have negated this. But whatever, the bite apparently changed her the rest of the way or whatever. However, his plan to find out which was the potential Kanima PRIOR to attempting to kill the threat was a good sign.

Subpart A) I actually agree with what he was doing. This should have worked, and either both should have been immune or both susceptible the writers just wanted to give Scott and Stiles a chance to look unambiguously good, while painting Derek as evil but whatever. (All opinion and conjecture. But honestly? Jackson WAS the Kanima, and even while human could be controlled as the Kanima so why would that physiological quirk be true but not the immunity. FAIL!) 

SubSubpart A) Added when editing to offer a reasonable explanation/rebuttal to this point. Both COULD have been immune, there is no evidence that Jackson was actively susceptible to the venom (or poison? It works by being absorbed through the skin as well, so it is confusing to try and name what it is :/ but whatever) And Matt could have forced Jackson to behave in a way that appeared to be paralyis, but again this is just conjecture and speculation that offers a reasonable alternative.

B) Derek was acting in the interest of the many. After identifying, whether accurately or not, the Kanima Derek immediately planned to deal with the issue with the least amount of life lost, after receiving sufficient evidence against his proof to Lydia being the Kanima he switched targets. As any leader both should and would. If Jackson was killed during any one of the periods where they had the chance to do so then all the lives lost in the Sheriffs office would have never occurred. 

Subpart B) Also, fuck Scott's we're not killers bullshit. He was not only willing but upset he didn't get to kill Peter, was willing to kill Derek to save Lydia and/or Jackson, and poisoned Gerard with the expectation that he would die from it. Scott is only OK with the kill it plan so long as HE'S the one who came up with it or benefitted from it. Otherwise you're the scum of the Earth. But whatever.

C) Biting teenagers. Now this is the big one right here! How would biting a bunch of teenagers ever actually be a good thing? I mean they're going through changes, their hormones are all over the place, they can't really understand what forever means, and so on and so forth. But here's another list as to why you're wrong in thinking that.

1) Teenagers and their bodies are ALREADY in the midst of changing. Developing muscle mass, growing, dealing with hormones, blah blah blah. Because of this, while the control aspect would (definitely) be more difficult, their bodies would be more receptive to the change because it's already changing. I mean seriously, it's actually kind of obvious, but look at this while an adult should in theory be able to get in control faster, the risks would be greater. Not only would they be experiencing a second puberty (cause the symptoms of the bite? Look pretty much like puberty on steroids.) But their bodies would struggle more to adapt to the change and the likelihood of actually being able to accept and get in full control of their wolf as such would lead to eventually succumbing to the instincts and going feral. (That's a lot of head canon I guess. But it actually makes sense.)

2) Derek's age is never actually confirmed canonically. However, Derek is between the ages of 22-24 (22 being more likely, but because the relationship he had with Kate was described as not under age there is some reason to believe he could have been older at the time of the fire. Subpart 2 gets into my headcanon regarding what that means.) So Derek is 23 ish (Ill just say 23 for ease) because of this he has to look for people who aren't really that much older than him in the first place, as pretty much everyone knows, just like teenagers think they know everything and don't need to listen to adults. Adults are the same way. Except kinda vice versa. If he got a couple of 30 year old fresh bites? He would have had to fight even more to get obedience and respect. And so on and so forth. Now why didn't he go after people his own age directly, well Isaac and Erica were both opportunistic and could truly appreciate the positive changes the bite could give them. Erica more than anything else would have survived and lived a better quality of life with the bite. Isaac could defend himself better, heal better, had a real family. Boyd went to Derek and asked for the bite. I don't see why Derek should have said no, he sees it as a gift and someone figured it out and asked for it for only "GOOD" reasons, even if they're flawed reasons. Jackson on one level Derek owed Jackson on another he claimed he was trying to kill him. I would also argue that approaching someone who JUST became an alpha and said "bite me" they'd struggle not to, and Derek WANTED a family so his instincts would more than likely have forced him to go through with it no matter what. Again accepting this as speculation and not fact.

Subpart 2) So Derek and his relationship to Kate. There are two major theories regarding this 1) he was 18 when they bumped uglies. Or 2) He wasn't and it was statutory rape and Jeff Davis is not aware of consent laws in California. My theory? Well theories actually but whatever. They never had sex. It's implied, but those implications could not just be slightly misleading but also they don't technically imply more than a physical relationship. As such they may not have progressed much further than kissing, heavy make outs, and some serious petting (HAH!) or it did get sexual but only hand/oral. A lot of people mistakenly think that these things don't count as sex.

D) He's easily manipulated. Right? Eh hard to say really. First Peter's story about Paige is coming from an untrustworthy place. Not only that but Peter? A main villain...twice. So.....I take his story with a grain of salt. Derek may not have even thought they were going to force the bite on her. Maybe he wanted to ask? Who knows. But Kate is shrouded in mystery. Peter during Season 1 could be argued that Derek wasn't certain, because I would be willing to accept that a werewolf who'd been in a coma for 6 years and just woke up with a mind numbing need for revenge, might not have been in control enough to recognize family. Hell people say that he lured Laura in, but who's to say the nurse didn't? Peter tells her "Hey, I need to kill an Alpha to heal better and bite you." her response "Well I know an Alpha, do this and I'll have one come here." I mean she helped him and he killed her. When biting her, which is what she wanted, would have been to his benefit. She was already willing to kill for him and would have been a loyal beta.....so why did he kill her? There's no reason not to believe that she wasn't more active or more at fault than the show has proven her to be! But that's kind of irrelevant. Especially since I don't believe she was the mastermind behind luring Laura there. But I would accept that Peter would have been feral enough not to recognize Laura. As a born werewolf? I think Derek would be even more willing to accept that. There is NO love lost for the Argents from him. Why wouldn't he be willing to jump in and help wipe them out? Also, whether he believed Peter or not, what happened to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer? I mean, he turned on Peter pretty quickly and easily and there is no evidence that he wan't always planning to do so. What about when Scott manipulated him in season 2? Well, didn't he just spend all of season 1 trying to get him to join his pack? I doubt he would have succeeded in manipulating him as well if they hadn't been in a situation where every able body was needed. And don't mention the Darach cause.....like for real? He'd just met her, had been needing some comfort that she gave to him happily. I mean for real? She technically wasn't even manipulating him until AFTER her identity was revealed. She actually wanted to be with him and wasn't just looking to use him. Keep in mind, him alive at her side was more important than her getting the magic boost from the Gaurdian's sacrifice. Bat shit crazy or not, she loved him as much as a person in her position could. But that's a discussion for another chapter.

So no, so far these "failings" most often talked about are totally and completely baseless, or are biased towards Scott and Stiles unfairly.

I guess the only other failing would be the fact he's an impulsive dick. But one's as much a blessing as it is a failing (impulsiveness) and the other he has ridiculously good reasons for. (Being a dick.) And not just because of the whole fire/Kate killed his entire family. The assholes he had to deal with after his sister being murdered then having to kill his uncle? Yeah, you tell me you'd be a bucket of goddamn sunshine then.

Weeeeeell! I think that's all for now. Depending on the response is if I actually to rant and rave any more! Hahaha! Hope to hear from you guys and learn about your opinions as well :) :) :)


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